Demographic research:
Part of our project is to aim our diorama at a certain demographic, the guidelines we have to follow are:
- The age range can be no greater than 10 years, you must pick an age.
- The diorama must be aimed at 1 gender (Male or female)
- Local and social status has to be considered as well.
- Another thing to consider is my artistic ability, incredibly realistic products appeal to adults more than children usually. My typical art style that I can do well in is a more stylized and illustration like art style. Because of this I feel that the demographic would need to be one that likes illustrations. This is an example of my work and the style I could go with.
What is my chosen demographic?:
Like I said earlier my typical style (The one I am strongest in) is an illustrated style with bright colours, pretty lighting and highlights. I began thinking about the illustration style and how it could possibly fit into a children’s story book (The types that parents/guardians would read to them). Because of this I have decided my demographic will be 4-8 year old girls. Typically, girls gravitate towards lighter colours, sparkly surfaces and materials and pretty lighting which I feel I could accomplish in my art style. As well as this I would like the social status of the parent to be someone who has enough disposable income to by their child a book to read with them.
What is their favourite genre:
When it comes to genre, the two I am looking at are game genres and film genres.
In this graph the top six children’s films that 7-14 year olds saw were all animated and the two films at the bottom of the list are both live action films. This backs up the belief that young people gravitate more towards animation than live action.
When it comes to film children between 4-8 love animated films (7-8 year olds backed up by graph above), these are the most popular types of children films due to art style and branding. Girls gravitate to Disney due to colour pallets and art style (The 3D graphics can make young girls feel grown up when watching more recent Disney films and could possibly aid 3D toy designs due to being more model accurate).
Girls ages 4-8 tend to like pink and purple palettes so the branding and animation of Disney princess films especially. An interesting thing however is that girls like a broader range of colours that boys, while pinks and purples could help create a successful product a broader range of colours like yellows, reds and blues is still possible!
Take a look at the overall colours and art style on this Disney princess poster, they have placed Aurora at the front in her pink dress (Her pink dress is often used in marketing material) As well as this Rapunzel and Ariel are in pink and purple dresses here ( Two colours young girls typically like) This was purposefully done to catch attention from young girls as pink and purple are the two dominant dress colours which have been proven to attract girls. A well as this pink detailing is laced all throughout the poster (Flowers, ribbons ect.) Colours and branding have become associated with this type of animation for young girls.
I searched up online games for girls and was bombarded with online dress up, hair and make up games (Games that encourage creativity). (In Europe around 44% of women play video games now, this includes casual gaming as well so a large portion could be casual mobile and online gaming).
As well as this I went onto youtube to see if there were any playthroughs of games and videos like this and to see how many views there are on the videos. The amount of views on these videos are incredible and prove that these types of games and videos have an audience. Every child I have ever spoken to or spent time with watches these videos on youtube or plays these kinds of games for fun.
What kinds of films, games and products do they like:
When it comes to games the two PEGI ratings that fit into the demographics I chose are PEGI 3 and PEGI 7, this is what PEGI 3 and PEGI 7 mean according to their guidelines.
I had a look at games from these guidelines to see if I could sum up a game demographic for 4-8 year olds. Here are some examples:
PEGI 3:
- Yoshi’s crafted world
- Mario kart 8 deluxe
- Super Mario bros U deluxe
- Just dance
- Wii play, Wii party. Wii music ect.
- Animal crossing (all platforms)
- Cooking mama
- Imagine DS game series
- Sonic Mania
PEGI 7:
- Splatoon 2
- Super Mario Odyssey
- Crash Bandicoot (N.sane trilogy)
- Sonic Generations
- Spyro reignited
While making this list I had to consider games young girls could enjoy (Hence why the lists are brief here) The games I listed feature bright colour palettes and branding, anthropomorphic characters (Sonic, Crash, Spyro etc.), platformers, games that encourage creativity (Animal crossing, imagine game series). Young girls often gravitate towards these games because of art style, mechanics and the fact that they can fit themselves into it. Spyro’s purple colour and bright environment can often attract girls to play. Sonic has very much involved female characters in his games and shows so girls can be included and enjoy the games.
Film wise young girls love Disney (Specifically princess films) Like I said earlier. Dreamworks have also managed to make successful films for girls like trolls. Girls love films with strong female protagonists that they can see themselves in, films with magic, journeys and pretty art styles.
This graph shows the percentage of people that fit into the 7-14 age group that went to see these children films in 2015. This graph includes 7-8 year olds which is part of my demographic. Nearly half of the audience for “Home” were between the ages -7-14 (Some of my demographic) and 38% of the audience for “Big Hero 6” were in the 7 to 14 demographic (Some of my demographic).
Product wise young girls love toys, regardless how much time changes children have always loved toys. Girls typically love fashion dolls (Barbie, Ever after high etc) collectible toys (Shopkins, beenie boos, moshi monster figurines). The toys feature bright colours and cute designs. Many young girls are also interested in fashion and accessories, Jojo Siwa created a fashion line for her fans, the clothing was very bright and colourful. As well as this Jojo bows have become very popular with young girls in school.
On average 7-8 year olds are said to spend £7.40 a week (Source: Office for national statistics)
This graph shows the top nine spending categories for children aged 7-15 years old. This shows that the consumers buy clothes and accessories first while toys and games are in the middle after food and drink (either they prioritize
What are their social media tastes:
Very young children don’t often use social media due to age restrictions, the only kind of social media they would really use is youtube for watching toy videos and animated films. These videos have become much more popular recently as younger children use the internet more now. However 4 – 8 year olds don’t really use social media like Instagram and face book.
Children between 4-8 don’t really have social media yet. (It is said 50% of 11 year olds have social media at that point so that could be a common starting age).
(Source: OfCom)
What products do they buy?:
Really it depends what products the parents buy the children at that age. Toys, books, accessories, films and games are all things parents buy their daughters for leisure. Like I said before girls like dolls, collectable toys, books about their favourite characters (picture/illustration books, licenced books) accessories that are trendy at school and activity packs like stencil packs and sticker books.
This is an official graph from the “Office for national statistics” on child spending (when children are given their own money) they go for accessories, clothes and shoes first, then food and drink (Possibly for social situations with friends when they go out) and then the toys, hobbies and games. The spending seems to be the same when children are given financial responsibility however due to going out with friends they’ll need to buy food and drink.
What is their favourite colour:
Young girls are known to like a mixture of pinks and purples in their products especially, branding made for girls often has pink and purple pallets as they are the two colours girls gravitate to them the most. However this isn’t it, girls are known to prefer red and yellow over boys who prefer blue and yellow. As well as this girls are known to like a broader range of colours than boys (So I am not just restricted to pink and purple).
(Research found on Empower yourselves with colour psychology)
Demographic mood board:
Bibliography:
https://www.amazon.com/Shopkins-Families-Collectible-Mini-Pack/dp/B07DYBNTZH
In order to sum up my demographic visually I created a mood board of the average 4-8 year old girl. I considered what I used to like to a very small extent (as 2006 is very different to 2019), current trends now and what I have seen 4-8 year olds I have been around recently enjoying. Like I said earlier girls love pinks, purples and reds. Girls are known to like a broader range of colour than boys typically, the disney princess line, shopkins and Claire’s all use pink and purple branding to attract girls into liking their products. Jojo Siwa uses pinks and blues in her products to attract girls as well, many other brands for girls have used the strategy. Game wise Nintendo is known for their great family friendly games that can be enjoyed by everyone, their titles include “Mario” and “Animal crossing”, games that many girls enjoy due to the freedom you have in many of the games, the art style and the characters (Peach, Isabelle etc). As well as this girls sometimes play online games such as “Moshi monsters”. The Disney princesses’ are still popular with young girls due to how they resonate with girls, whether that be how they look, how they act or what they want to achieve in the end.
Brands young girls like includes:
- Disney
- Smiggle
- Claire’s
- Toy Barnhaus
- Nintendo
- Barbie (Mattel)
Today younger people are using the internet much more, to keep children in a suitable space Youtube made “Youtube kids”, children often use video platforms to watch shows, films, toy videos or computer game videos. Children between 4-8 don’t really have social media yet. (It is said 50% of 11 year olds have social media at that point so that could be a common starting age).
(Source: OfCom)
Roxanne's Development Blog (Second year) 